當代越南佛教的政治參與

The Political Participation of the Modern Vietnamese Buddhism

本文主要針對當代越南的佛教與政治參與過程，做一分析與歸納，希望藉此理解越南複雜的政教關係之面相。第二次世界大戰後，南北越分立，儘管兩個政權的憲法都標榜宗教自由，但事實卻不然，當政者屢屢或控制或利用或制壓宗教。從越南第一共和時期的政教關係緊張，到第二共和時期的佛教反戰運動，再到共產黨統一全越以後對宗教的管制或工具性利用達到政治宣傳教化，反映出佛教與越南社會秩序和支配關係正當化的重要關聯性。吳廷琰（NgôĐình Diệm）時期對佛教徒的制壓，不僅引發佛教徒的抗爭，導致政權更替，也使往後接續的歷任政府必須面對佛教徒的政治訴求，例如：停戰、修憲、反貪腐等，而反美風潮更為共黨所利用，增添統一戰爭的複雜性。由「出世」的宗教「神聖化」轉為「入世」的「平凡化」，統一佛教會僧伽會眾積極入世的態度，利用傳統宗教的能動性來對抗政權、促進政治革新，正體現出宗教是表現人類價值的創造。

This article, hoping to unfold the complicate picture of the Church and State relation, analyze and generalize the modern Vietnamese Buddhism and the process of its political participation. After WWII, the North and South Vietnams were separated, although their governments both declared Freedom of religion, the governors still manipulated, utilized or quelled the religion or their organizations repeatedly. The important connection between the Buddhism and the social order and the legitimatization of dominance in Vietnam can be reflected from the tensions between the Church and the State during the first Vietnamese Republic, to the Buddhist antiwar movement and finally to the whole control and use of religion for political propaganda by the Vietnamese Communist Party since the 1975 Reunion. By continual suppressions on Buddhists, the Diem Government not only cause the Buddhist protestation which lead to the coup d'état but also make the successive governments face the Buddhists' political demands such as cease-fire, constitutional amendment and anti-corruption. Besides, an anti-American trend even emerged after the Communist Party's interpretation on these demands, which also complicated the reunion war. From ”meditation practice” to ”engaged Buddhist”, ”sacred” to ”trivialization”, followers of the United Buddhist Church, with their engaged and active attitude, use the traditional religious momentum to counteract the regimes and to facilitate the political reforms. And this reveals that the religion is the creation which performs human being's value.